Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Health Organization working documents are now available online here. The documents for the first time reveal details of the working process of an expert working group (EWG) tasked with finding innovative solutions to finance research and development on drugs…
Climate-friendly technologies are only rarely being transferred to developing countries, and then primarily to a small handful of emerging market economies, said the findings of a study presented today.
That the changing global climate requires urgent response, and that this response will most likely include technology, is largely agreed. But what role intellectual property rights play in making sure that technology exists and is available is still not yet fully understood.
Copyright is critical to the survival of the music industry and its creators, but lack of respect for copyright is not why artists are struggling to make ends meet, argued a recent panel of media lawyers and music industry experts. The blame for that lies squarely on the corporate-focus of the music industry, and how it has bent copyright law to serve companies rather than composers, said a panel at the University of Westminster.
Two not-for-profit drug developers, TB Alliance and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), have created a product development partnership (PDP) in the form of a royalty-free licence agreement intended to drive development of new drugs for several neglected diseases.…
“Exactly a year ago, a very bad decision was taken” by the World Health Organization that now seems “unscientific and irrational,” said Council of Europe parliamentarian Paul Flynn in a late June presentation of a new report on the WHO's actions during the 2009 influenza pandemic.
But opinions heard at an ongoing review of the WHO’s pandemic response were mixed, with some praising the organisation’s work to protect public health and others critiquing what they say is suspicious secrecy.
An agreement on international intellectual property rights enforcement now under negotiation in Lucerne, Switzerland runs the risk of ushering in a new and undemocratic precedent for international policymaking that could have long-term damaging effects on critical public policy issues, non-negotiating government representatives and civil society advocates said this week.
The final step in the establishment of a patent pool under international drug-purchasing mechanism UNITAID was taken today, the UN body announced.
"At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making," Director General Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization declaration in a letter today defending the organisation's increasingly scrutinised response to an outbreak of H1N1, or 'swine flu.'
"Information is the lifeblood of development," says the government of Rwanda in a recently-adopted intellectual property policy, part of the country’s comprehensive development strategy. The new policy attempts to integrate Rwanda into the international IP system while simultaneously safeguarding the freedom it needs to drive its own innovation system.
Global health authorities have been guilty of "grave shortcomings" in transparency and accountability to the public good in their handling of the pandemic influenza outbreak says a new draft resolution from the intergovernmental Council of Europe. A related investigative report from the British Medical Journal found evidence of "declarable financial conflicts of interests" among the experts advising the World Health Organization. But WHO denies any wrongdoing.